Cardiff City (A) - Matchday Thread

[Andicis]

Just now, Sean said:

cOcUbAlL iS bOrInG

What does this even mean lol, of this list of games I can pick out quite a lot of dull games. Scoring a goal doesn't equate to a game being interesting.

[Alph]

I see the "here come the Cocu Out brigade" type posts

Can't actually see anyone saying anything like that though. 

 

[BondJovi]

I think this last stretch has been a big ask on our players. Aside from Rooney; Martin, Forsyth, Evans have all had fitness/injury problems the last season and we have had to rely on them to help guide our young inexperienced players. Those who are in good shape, Waghorn, Lawrence and Wisdom have all been unavailable at the key time.  Add to that Holmes being a shadow of his pre injury self.

Even with our best players available, we lack pace and power in the attacking third and that is so vital in this league.

This has been an unprecedented situation on top of an already ridiculous season. Sure to fizzle out is disappointing but there is promise.

Midtable with promise would have been a solid start for Cocu. All things considered, he has done a great job and I think our team will become more attacking once he gets in the players he wants.

One last point. We knew playing the youngsters might bring mistakes, but it is more annoying for those to come from senior players. It is not the young players who have let the side down.

 

[Andicis]

Just now, Alpha said:

I see the "here come the Cocu Out brigade" type posts

Can't actually see anyone saying anything like that though. 

 

Any criticism of the manager means you're a wrist slasher, not a real Derby fan and is usually alongside a ''WHY DON'T YOU GO SUPPORT FOREST'' comment too.

[Sean]

1 minute ago, Andicis said:

What does this even mean lol, of this list of games I can pick out quite a lot of dull games. Scoring a goal doesn't equate to a game being interesting.

Longest run of scoring in league games in recent memory and the highest number of goals scored in the league in 2020 until recently and yet we're somehow 'defensive'

[Uptherams]

Just now, rammieib said:

Cocu has won over me but a lot of that is the way he has dealt with the off the field antics. He really has had so much to deal with and losing your best defender is a huge problem.

However we must bring in better players who will help us get at teams and offer more goal threat.

Bird isn’t going to score more than a couple given his type of play. Rooney doesn’t seem to even get in positions to shoot so open play goals from him will be nearly nothing. We just aren’t going to open teams up but I prey and hope for a minimum of two new attacking players.

Our bench is so weak - Flojo, first touch again was to run the ball out of play. He’s a three million pound player!!

Nice to see Marriott back - but can he even offer anything in this style of play?

So frustrating - we’ve played four very different teams (Forest, West Brom, Brentford and Cardiff) and each one has applied a different style and we’ve not performed remotely well enough in any of these games.

My concern is whether there is even a budget to bring in anyone else?

Someone just needs to sit him down and show him the Wigan game. Explain this is the kind of thing that happens in this league. You don't have to be Barca to score 3 goals in 10 minutes or have passed it 50 times before it goes in either. I'll keep saying it, he still doesn't understand this league. I think he thinks that everytime we concede possession, we'll concede a goal.

[Archied]

4 minutes ago, DCFClks said:

Think people are being a little harsh on the squad/manager tbh and comparing Phil to Mac. McClaren had prime Bryson, Martin and Keogh. As well as Hendrick, Hughes and Thorne - A PL quality midfield (an above average PL midfield even)and still didn't get promoted. There were moments in the Brentford game where we were outplaying them with half the team being youth players and if it wasn't for the mistake could have easily got something from that game. The reason we've not played exiting attacking football is because of the complete lack of attacking options during the last 3 games. If you look at his time at PSV, he's not naturally a defensive manager. I think he's actually overachieved this season tbh with all the events of the season. I honestly think with a few decent signings this team could do really well next season.

Bloody shame we have cocu at a time when we have no spend power , what he is dragging out of this season at times in terms of football is a joy to watch , what he could do with a sprinkling of decent quality of the right age mixed with our kids in my view would be spot on

[kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong]

6 minutes ago, Archied said:

Oh dear the every manager except Mac out brigade are surfacing ,,, Easter , the Stone is rolled away , is it Jesus emerging?     Nope it’s some bloke with a dodgy Barnet and a Rosetta Stone Dutch accent ,,,,,,, yawn yawn yawn

I shouldn't take that to heart archied,no one is asking to get rid of cocu,it's pretty natural to pine for a bit more excitement after four performances like that.

We have players capable of scoring,the game management just needs to be adjusted to inject a bit more momentum into the match when the chips are down....it's a little soulless at the minute.

[Andicis]

Just now, Sean said:

Longest run of scoring in league games in recent memory and the highest number of goals scored in the league in 2020 until recently and yet we're somehow 'defensive'

Except statistically we're rubbish in the final third over the entire season. We score a lot of longshots, freekicks and penalties. We don't open teams up all that often. 

[Alph]

1 minute ago, Andicis said:

What does this even mean lol, of this list of games I can pick out quite a lot of dull games. Scoring a goal doesn't equate to a game being interesting.

It says we've won by more than 1 goal on like 3 occasions and might hint at why we have a minus GD and also have few shots in comparison to where we are in the league

Actually I think it's an OTT response to OTT negativity that isn't actually happening. Ironic really. 

[Millenniumram]

5 minutes ago, Sean said:

cOcUbAlL iS bOrInG

Think this justifies the points being made to be honest. Most of those wins are by a one goal margin. The point isn’t necessarily that it’s boring, but it is defensive. Take the lead and shut up shop. It’ll work with a better defence, but it won’t ever be thrilling stuff. I don’t really care if it’s getting results, but it might be a bit painful until we reach that point.

[Andicis]

1 minute ago, Alpha said:

It says we've won by more than 1 goal on like 3 occasions and might hint at why we have a minus GD and also have few shots in comparison to where we are in the league

Actually I think it's an OTT response to OTT negativity that isn't actually happening. Ironic really. 

I know we don't exactly have a plethora of attacking talent, but I'm sure we could get more productivity out of the attackers if we set up differently. We're obsessed with controlling the ball, without ever doing anything with it. 

[Uptherams]

11 minutes ago, Sean said:

cOcUbAlL iS bOrInG

Funnily enough, you've cut out all the games in 2019  that were awful and the last few that have been utterly awful. First half of the season, the football was as bad and dull as it has been in a decade. We turned it round but unfortunately I think the pressure got to the manager and he became protective because we had a chance at the play offs and we had half decent opponents. Should have stuck to what was working.

[ariotofmyown]

5 minutes ago, Uptherams said:

Funnily enough, you've cut out all the games in 2019  that were awful and the last few that have been utterly awful. First half of the season, the football was as bad and dull as it has been in a decade. We turned it round but unfortunately I think the pressure got to the manager and he became protective because we had a chance at the play offs and we had half decent opponents. Should have stuck to what was working.

The pressure got to Cocu because we were in with a chance of the playoffs. Laughable.

[kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong]

2 minutes ago, Uptherams said:

Funnily enough, you've cut out all the games in 2019  that were awful and the last few that have been utterly awful. First half of the season, the football was as bad and dull as it has been in a decade. We turned it round but unfortunately I think the pressure got to the manager and he became protective because we had a chance at the play offs and we had half decent opponents. Should have stuck to what was working.

I think it's just that we have played those same top teams again and we are a depleted,injury/suspended player ridden side who despite reaching a decent peak pre lockdown,are now,in essence,back where we started,compared to the top six.

I don't think Cocu planned it this way,personally.

[brady1993]

I guess that's that. A truly frustrating experience tonight, in no small part because it felt like if we could just keep playing how we were doing in spells tonight and not just give them goals then they we could have won it. The issues tonight were mostly stemming from 3 places that are related and mostly amounted to crippling our ability to build up play;

- Lowe on the right made it really difficult to play our way out down the right and essentially meant we had zero width on this side. This was further hampered with Davies next to him

- Forsyth on the left was far too eager to punt the ball aimlessly

- Rooney was diabolical and an active liability both on and off the ball

This essentially meant that all of it fell to Clarke and Bird in order to get anywhere in the first 2/3rds of the pitch. Which they made a decent fist of (Clarke in particular was excellent tonight) but its just going to be an uphill battle and pretty much all our problems stem from this tonight including the two goals. It's less obvious with the first goal but look back at it and look why Knight (and he definitely isn't blame free here) has to go back to the keeper - it's his only option because Lowe had to give it him there in the first place whilst under pressure because he couldn't run the ball wide and neither Rooney or Davies anticipate and drop into space to give him an easy option.

Unfortunately Cocu isn't blameless either tonight and whilst I can accept that his options are limited he got the subs wrong in general tonight. Bogle for Lowe made complete sense and needed to happen but at that time he should have dragged Rooney off as well (preferably sooner to be honest) and either brought Shinnie or moved Knight more central. Also taking Knight and Sibley off were mistakes both were still lively and looked like they might be able to produce something, Sibley in particular who looked the most dangerous player on the pitch. 

Ultimately it feels a summary of our season; some good play mixed with some bad play, way too many individual mistakes and running completely out of steam. 

On the bright side thought Roos, Clarke, Sibley, Bird, Lawrence and Knight (mistake to one side) were all on a scale of good to very good tonight. It also may be a blessing in disguise and allow us to better prepare for the following season and use the remaining games to get a feel for some of the other U23s and possibly experimenting with how we line up.

[Archied]

4 minutes ago, kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong said:

I shouldn't take that to heart archied,no one is asking to get rid of cocu,it's pretty natural to pine for a bit more excitement after four performances like that.

We have players capable of scoring,the game management just needs to be adjusted to inject a bit more momentum into the match when the chips are down....it's a little soulless at the minute.

It just bores me senseless, there have been some games and part games in the second half of this season where the football has been fantastic with great teamwork, great Passing and great movement with some fantastic team goals scored ,with the hand dealt to coca that’s real quality management and coaching , mac has had one decent spell with Derby over the last 10? Years with a hardcore of a team already in place and he’s Jc incarnate?, the man can’t get a job for love nor money and was struggling to get near a managers job before we handed him clough s well built work in progress

[Uptherams]

Just now, ariotofmyown said:

The pressure got to Cocu because we were in with a chance of the playoffs. Laughable.

Absolutely. He became too defensive and protective. We'll hold out for your expert analysis. Not me personally though. 

[Archied]

11 minutes ago, Andicis said:

I know we don't exactly have a plethora of attacking talent, but I'm sure we could get more productivity out of the attackers if we set up differently. We're obsessed with controlling the ball, without ever doing anything with it. 

I know just the man for you , just need to offer him more than Millwall 

[Andicis]

Just now, Archied said:

I know just the man for you , just need to offer him more than Millwall 

Believe it or not, you can move the ball quickly and efficiently and without the need to go all the way back to your goalkeeper. Maybe watch 2014 Derby County.